Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Step 16: Go Out and Do Some More!

What a busy week it has been!  On Monday evening I attended a MITI (Make It Take It) Workshop at the CMTC(Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference) on BeeBots and ProBots!  These are engaging and fun little robots that kids can code.  I had a blast learning how to drive my BeeBot around the room and really enjoyed making my ProBot write my initials and draw a circle.  I can imagine so many ways to use this in the school's Makerspace and in my library lessons, especially when I am teaching kids about coding.  For more information on BeeBots and ProBots, check out their website!
      
Wednesday I attended the CMTC for the whole day and was able to participate in some wonderful workshops.  I listened to the Keynote speaker, Sara DeWitt, who works for PBS Kids and discovered some great resources.  I then attended a workshop on Makerspaces - and got a few ideas for my school Makerspace.  Then a workshop on Math apps, which gave me some great ideas to share with my fellow teachers.  And finally, I ended the day with a STEM workshop, which gave me even more ideas for activities for my Makerspace.

I also presented with one of my colleagues on using beacons in schools!  We had a blast, even though there were only three workshop participants!  For more information on what beacons are and how you could use them at your school check out our Google Slides presentation.

And, if that isn't enough, I spent a great deal of time this week preparing for Hour of Code!  We decided this year that our whole school is going to participate in Hour of Code.  In order to do this, every student will complete an hour of coding activities, either using the code.org website, a coding app, or an unplugged coding activity.  In addition, one of my colleagues lined up a group of community members who use coding in their jobs.  Kids will be able to learn about how coding fits into a career at Rugers, Corning, Hypertherm and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.  In preparation for the Hour of Code, I had my fifth graders participate in an unplugged activity during library classes.   They had to write code for each other to get from one point in the library to the next.  They were all over the place, but the energy was fantastic and the students learned a lot.

I look forward to doing and sharing more, so keep your eyes peeled!

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